The world’s largest music label, Universal Music Group, bought the important European independent label Pias, which started bands like The Young Gods and Mogwai.
Pitchfork.com reported on the acquisition. According to him, Universal already acquired a 49 percent stake in the Belgian company in 2022. He has now become the new majority owner after founders Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot sold the remaining shares to him. Gates will remain as director. “I sold the stock, not the soul,” he says.
The price of the transaction, which the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes as “groundbreaking” for the world of independent music, is not known.
Pias was founded in 1983 in Brussels. He releases music on his own labels Different Recordings, Harmonia Mundi, World Village or Play It Again Sam, whose acronym gave rise to the name Pias. In addition, through its separate company Integral Music, the company provides physical and digital distribution and marketing services to more than a hundred partner labels such as Mute, Transgressive, 4AD, Rough Trade, XL, ACT, Real World Records, Ninja Tune or ATO. Stars such as Nick Cave with the band The Bad Seeds, Radiohead, Fontaines DC or Peter Gabriel publish their work on them.
This service folder has also now been acquired by Universal. He was the first to announce that he would merge it with a department in charge of similar activities in another of his companies, Virgin Music Group, Billboard.com adds. When asked whether the integration will mean the cancellation of some jobs, the website company did not respond.
Pias founder Kenny Gates will become a new member of Virgin Music Group’s board and advisory group.
Michel Lambot and Kenny Gates, founders of the Pias label. | Photo: Richard Dumas
“Since 2021, when we entered into a strategic partnership with them, Universal Music Group has supported us and really added value to our offer. The cooperation so far has been fruitful, friendly and fulfilled all expectations,” said Gates.
He promises that nothing will change for the Pias partners. He calls the sale of Universal shares a “pragmatic” decision.
“I’ve known Kenny and Michel since the 1980s, when we were all signing bands from the then emerging European scene,” says Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive of Universal Music Group. “Since then, they have built Pias into one of the most authentic and best independent publishing houses. It is precisely because of these qualities that I not only respect them personally, but they fit perfectly into the entrepreneurial and creative culture of Universal,” he adds.
Universal Music Group is the largest recording company in the world, together with Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group they form the so-called big three companies with a dominant position in the market. Universal includes the brands Blue Note Records, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Interscope, Island, Polydor and Republic Records.
In 2021, Universal entered the Amsterdam Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of almost 46 billion euros. Since 1994, the company has also been operating in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.